


What Did You Do in The War?

by MySuperFamily (OriginalRandomFandom)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War II, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2013-01-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OriginalRandomFandom/pseuds/MySuperFamily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the wartime AU I mentioned at the end of the last chapter of “My Super Family.” It is based off this prompt: http://yumikire.tumblr.com/post/28183859341 It’ll be a kind of free-form drabble series. I have some ideas where it is going, but it isn’t as planned out as my other story. Therefore it is very open to suggestion. Feel free to shout out any ideas you might have. :)</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the wartime AU I mentioned at the end of the last chapter of “My Super Family.” It is based off this prompt: http://yumikire.tumblr.com/post/28183859341 It’ll be a kind of free-form drabble series. I have some ideas where it is going, but it isn’t as planned out as my other story. Therefore it is very open to suggestion. Feel free to shout out any ideas you might have. :)

”Stark’s the best civilan pilot I’ve ever seen. He’s mad enough to brave this airspace. We’re lucky to have him,” Peggy said.

Steve looked over to the pilot, he’d seen him months ago at the Expo with Bucky. Stark had been strutting around on stage with a bunch of chorus girls, he’d even kissed one of them. Steve didn’t think much of a man with who wore a wedding ring doing something like that. By the grey at his temples, the man was well old enough to know better. He’d seen him again when he helped Dr. Erskine, and he’d thought the man had more to him than he realized. Now he was making passes at Peggy, a decorated officer and a woman young enough to be his daughter.

“Luck doesn’t have anything to do with it!” Stark yelled back, “You remember our deal!”

“Deal?” Steve asked, looking at Peggy who was looking distinctly uncomfortable. 

“You didn’t tell him!” Stark’s voice practically squeaked with indignation.

“Tell me what?” Steve demanded.

“You bring back my son!” Stark said. “He was with the 107th!”

“Howard!” Peggy scolded. “You read the same reports I did. I’m sorry, but Anthony was seen down in the field.”

“But they didn’t find a body,” Howard risked a glance over his shoulder, and Steve was struck by the agonized determination he saw there. “No son a’ mine would be stupid enough to get shot where he couldn’t be found. No! They took him, took him with the rest of the boys in his unit.” He looked forward again. “You bring him back, Steve.”

“I’m going to bring them all back, sir,” Steve promised grimly, knowing he might be lying. Stark nodded, knowing the same.

And then there was no more time for talk. Anti-aircraft missiles were exploding all around them, and Steve had to jump before their plane was forced down.


	2. Chapter 2

It was easier than it should have been. But then Hydra was guarding against an army, not one man. So even with the shield strapped to his back like a red, white and blue beacon, Steve didn’t find it very hard to get into the base. He quickly found his way to the holding cells, snatching a bit of glowing blue tech on his way.

”What are you supposed to be?” One of the ragged soldiers asked peering up from his cage at Steve’s booted feet.

“I’m Captain America,” Steve shrugged, wishing he’d taken time to change.

“Beg pardon?” an incredulous voice asked.

But there wasn’t time, he still hadn’t found Bucky, or Stark’s boy. He scrambled down to the cells and started unlocking doors, looking at each ragged face he freed. He whispered the same question over and over each time it wasn’t Bucky.

“Does anyone know what happened to a man named Barnes? James Barnes? Or an Anthony Stark?”

A thin soldier stepped up from the back of the crowd.

_Jesus,_ Steve thought, _who let him in?_ He looked so young and was swimming in his uniform, like the slightest breath could knock him over. He screamed 4F about as much as Steve had pre-serum.

”They figured out who Stark was,” he swallowed, “they took him to the labs. He was hurt bad, real bad. We haven’t seen him. They took others there too, I dunno who.”

“Which way are the labs?” Steve looked over his shoulder at the labyrinth tunnels. There was commotion all around they knew he was here.

“They had me working there,” the kid said, rubbing his hand. “I can show you.”

Horrible idea, terrible. He glanced around, the other prisoners were helping each other out of the cells. He had to get them all out. But Bucky… 

“Okay, you’re with me, kid,” he said and directed the others out with instructions to give the Hydra agents hell. He was taking a risk, but even if he looked like a kid this man was a soldier. He’d signed up for it just like Steve had.

“Parker, Peter Parker,” the skinny kid said scrambling up next to him. “It’s not far.”


	3. Chapter 3

They found Stark first, and Parker hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said he was “hurt bad.” The man had a glowing thing in his chest, swathed with bandages dark with old blood. He looked so much like Howard that there was no mistaking him. He was barely able to walk, but he grinned at Steve and Parker like he was whole and undamaged. 

“Are we blowing this joint? I’ve made some toys to help us out,” Stark sways as he gestures to the table behind him. He nearly falls, and another scientist Hydra had been holding quickly moves to support him.

“Careful, you’ll open your stitches,” the older man said, with an accent Steve couldn’t identify. Maybe Russian? He looked vaguely Asian…

“Yinsen,” Stark said breaking Steve out of his contemplation, “Plan is moved up. We’re breaking out now. You’ll see your wife, your children. Grab the gauntlets, suit me up.”

The man shook his head. “You’re not strong enough.”

“I ain’t leavin’ ‘em here for _them_  to use!” Stark bellowed, and clutched at his heart. A faint fresh pinkness started to spread across his bandages. “Suit me up!”

“We don’t have time for this,” Steve said, antsy. “I still have to find Bucky - James Barnes, have you seen him?”

“They took him to the tables,” Yinsen said. “Down the hall and to the left.” He gave Steve a sympathetic look. “No one comes back from the tables.”

“I’ve got to see for myself,” Steve said, stomach dropping. “Parker, you stay with Stark and Yinsen, barricade the room. I’ll be back.”

“Yessir,” Parker nodded and followed him to the door. “I won’t let anyone in but you.”

Steve left, and barely registered that Stark had once again started haranguing the others to ‘suit him up.’ He had to find Bucky and figure out how to get them out!

He saw another scientist run out of a room just as he reached the left hallway. Not a prisoner, a Hydra scientist. Steve ran into the room and saw a map marked with locations.  _Other bases,_  he thought and tried to commit them to memory. Then he heard a murmur and saw tables, mostly empty. But on one-

_Bucky!_

Bucky! Alive, out of it, hurt, but alive!

“Oh my god, Buck it’s me, it’s me.” Steve said breaking his bonds and sliding him off the table.

“Steve?” Bucky looked confused.

Steve held him up, helping him to his feet. Weak, but he could stand. “I thought you were dead,” Steve whispered.

“I thought you were smaller.”


	4. Chapter 4

There were alarms blaring through the compound but the hallway he and Bucky moved down was quiet and empty.

“Did it hurt?”

“A little,” Steve shrugged, concentrating on getting them back to the others through the maze of corridors. Thankfully Bucky was moving under his own steam, if a bit unsteadily. He didn’t know if he could manage to carry out both him and Stark while protecting Yinsen and Parker.

“Is it permanent?”

“So far,” Steve answered.

There was an explosion deep in the building. Steve ran down a metal railway onto the catwalk that looked down on the factory floor to see the floor going up in a series of explosions.

“No, no,” Steve muttered. The way back to the corridor was gone, there was no way that Stark was getting out alone and Parker was waiting for him to lead them out.

“What?” Bucky looked around, “This is okay, we’ve gotten out of worse scrapes. Remember when Mrs. Callaghan’s laundry caught while we were smoking on the roof?”

“You were smoking. I was trying to catch my breath after being chased up the stairs by the guys you stole the cigs from.”

“But we got out of it just fine.”

“It’s not just us this time, Buck-” Steve said running down the walkway, trying to find another way down.

There was a muted roar from below them and then the catwalk before him unfolded like a metal flower with petals wide, screeching as something huge and metal burst it’s way out.

It shot up like a rocket, forcing it’s way out through the roof.

For a moment the explosions that rocked the building from below faded in significance as they watched the thing arch into the night sky and wink out of sight like a falling star.

“Hey, was that Corporal Stark in some kind of metal skeleton thing with… with, uh, rocket boots?” Bucky asked leaning against the railing.

“I didn’t know he was a corporal,” Steve said, eyeing the sky and trying to figure out their trajectory. “I think that was Parker holding onto his neck.” He glanced down, the area beneath the walkway was a sea of flames, if Yinsen was still down there he wasn’t coming out.

He grimaced and ran up a flight of stairs. If they were getting out, it would have to be over the flames.

“I know that kid,” Bucky coughs. “He’s a private in my unit, what’s he doing here?”

“He led me to the labs,” Steve said, glancing back. “Who let a kid like him in anyway?”

“Don’t let his size fool you,” Bucky shook his head. “He’s pretty tough for a little guy. Reminded me a lot of this other little guy I knew back home.” Bucky froze, looking over his shoulder. “What the hell-?”

“Captain America! How exciting, I am a great fan of your films.” Across the way a catwalk joined the two walkways. A little round bespectacled man hovered on the platform behind the towering form walking casually towards Steve and Bucky.

Steve glanced at Bucky, barely holding himself up on the rail and got between him. He was vaguely aware of man saying something about Erskine, success and a lack of improvement. This had to be Schmidt, the person who orchestrated Erskine’s death.

Steve popped him in the face for it before he quipped back at Schmidt. “You have no idea.” It wasn’t enough. He wanted to throw the man into the flames below, but even that wouldn’t be enough to absolve his crimes.

The HYDRA leader swung and punched Steve’s shield hard enough to leave an impression of his fist. “Haven’t I?”

They traded punches and kicks, Steve only succeeding in losing his weapon before the little man on the other side pulled a lever that forced them apart. Steve backed up, standing defensively in front of Bucky, watching Schmidt as he moved to the elevator door opening across the way.

“No matter what lies Erskine told you…. you see I was Erskine’s greatest sucess.”

There was something wrong with his face. Schmidt tore at it, revealing it as a mask and a glistening red skull underneath. 

“You don’t have one of those, do you?” Bucky asked.

“You are deluded, Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier; but in reality you are afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind. Unlike you, I embrace it proudly, without fear!” Schmidt backed into an elevator.

“Then how come you’re running?” Steve yelled, hoping to goad him back into a fight. But it was too late he was gone and the explosions were too great to ignore anymore. He glanced up and saw an exit across another walkway further up. They could get out if they got to it.

“C’mon, up this way, up.” Steve pointed up another set of stairs.

“No, seriously, you don’t have one of those, right?” Bucky gasped as he followed him up. “This isn’t a dream, right? I’m not still on the table. I mean, flying robot-Starks and giant Steves and guys with skull heads. This isn’t real. It can’t be.”

“It’s real,” Steve assured him, moving him over to a beam that would lead them to the exit. “Bucky, c’mon, this place is falling apart.” He gestured ahead of him. “C’mon one at a time."

Bucky shook his head, “Okay, yeah, sure. Don’t think I can die in a dream.” He made it halfway across before another explosion shook it loose. “Oh hell, this better be a dream.” He ran the last few steps across and threw himself over the rail as the beam fell away. He looked back at Steve, humor and quips forgotten. “There’s got to be a rope or something!”

“Just go!” Steve yelled, waving him forward. “Get out of here!” He’d find another way out. If he had to he’d run through the flames, he was supposed to heal quick enough that he’d probably survive.

“Not without you!” Bucky yelled and Steve knew that look. He would kill himself waiting for Steve.

He huffed and looked around for a way across. No rope, no more beams no more floors up. The door across the way was it. He looked at the platform behind him and then at the gap.

Well, if he fell then Bucky would go, if he didn’t they’d both get out. He bent back the railing and moved back, setting himself for the leap.

“If I don’t make it,” He yelled before he started moving. “Find Stark and get him back to his father. I promised!”

“Then keep your promises Rogers!” Bucky snarled. “Don’t lay ‘em on me!”

Steve shook his head, braced himself and pushed off at a run as fast as he could.

He leapt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you might have guessed I was following Captain America: The First Avenger pretty closely so far. From here on it begins to veer further away into AU territory.


	5. Chapter 5

“That was amazing,” Bucky said, pausing only briefly to snag a long rifle from the hands of a dead Hydra agent as they followed the path of devastation leaving the base. “Like something out of a serial.”

“I made some of those,” Steve said conversationally as he jogged over the torn up ground, uncomfortable with the praise. “Serials, I mean. They’re pretty popular. I’m supposed to film the next one after this tour.”

“War hero and a movie star,” Bucky shook his head. “I may swoon. My hero!”

“Aw, shut it,” Steve grinned. “It’s probably cancelled after all this.” Soot stained, limping and bedraggled, and Bucky was still making jokes. It was the best thing Steve had ever heard. He came to a stop when they hit the treeline. “I told the other fellas I’d meet up with ‘em over there, there’s a clearing. You go find them, if I’m not back in half an hour-“

“Where are you going?” Bucky frowned, glancing in the direction Steve pointed and back again.

“Stark and Parker flew… fell… uh, went that way,” Steve gestured in the opposite direction.

“For Christ’s sake-” Bucky swore.

“I promised his father, Buck. I owe Howard at least a try, he got me out here.”

“Well, I’m going with you then,” Bucky said with a stubborn set to his jaw. “Don’t even try it, Rogers,” he interrupted when he saw Steve about to speak. “We’re wasting time enough as it is. We gotta get back and report what was going on here, get ‘em these weapons.” He rattled the Hydra weapon. “Command has to know what was going on here.”

Steve sighed, he knew Bucky well enough to know when it was useless to argue. “Fine, c’mon.” He pushed his way through the trees and growth, glancing up at the stars and using them to calculate where he thought the pair might have fallen. He was glad that Bucky had come along, and not just because he was still trying to convince himself that Bucky was alive and safe.

Steve was pretty sure that he was just going to be picking up a couple of sets of dog tags, and some closure for Howard and whoever claimed Parker as family. He was glad wasn’t doing that alone. They’d gone up high, and would have landed hard. He didn’t know how they could have survived. Jeeze, Parker was just a kid…

“Fucking hell, kid!” A shout echoed through the woods in front of them. “God Dammit, be careful!”

There was a chorus of snaps and what sounded like a body landing heavy and more muffled curses. “What did I just say?!”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Don’t sorry me, don’t you dare one more time, you asshole! Oh, fuck, ow, ow, damn your eyes-“

“Sorry-“

“What did I fucking say? Not even two seconds ago, you fucking mentally defic-“

“Sorry!”

The next response was so foul and garbled Steve wasn’t sure where the swears stopped and became pained gibberish instead.

“Corporal Stark, quit abusing young ears!” Bucky called out, coming up along Steve and tossing him a disbelieving grin.

The crashing in the bushes stopped and in the ensuing silence, Steve could hear the distant report of gunfire and the strange sound the Hydra weapons made behind them.

“Sarge?” A breathless voice whispered. “You’re alive?”

“Last I checked, though there’s been some doubt, Parker. Better check for yourself,” Bucky spoke to the bushes in front of them.

“Sarge!” Parker burst from the undergrowth. His clothes were lightly scorched and torn, and it looked like the left side of him had gone through a grater, but he was alive. “But they took you to the tables!”

“And you worked in the labs,” Bucky shrugged, “we both beat the odds.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Stark’s voice was hoarse and rough, “Get me the fuck out of here.”

“Oh, shoot,” Parker gasped, turning back to the bushes, “Corporal, I’m-“

“If you say sorry, I’ll make sure you are for a damn long time,” Stark grumbled, and he clawed his way out of the bushes on his stomach. “I’ll bite your ankles off.” His jet black hair was tousled, thick with leaves, mud and blood, his face had scrapes and bruises, in sharp relief against skin that was so scary pale.

“For chrissake, Tony!” Bucky lurched forward. “What the hell-” he gasped as he dragged Stark from the ground with the help of Steve.

“What the hell is that?” Bucky stared at the red brown stained bandages that wrapped Stark’s torso. A ghostly blue light fought through the wrappings directly over his chest.

“That looks like the blue stuff Hydra’s using to power their weapons,” Steve murmured, staring too.

“That’s cause it is, and it’s powering me too, powered the suit for take off too,” Stark looked a bit manic. “Good Old Dad’s gonna want to take me apart for a whole different reason this time.”

“Suit?” Steve’s brow furrowed, remembering the metal apparatus that had surrounded Stark like a second skeleton as he burst up and through the walkway.

“What did you do to yourself?” Bucky breathed, getting an arm underneath Stark to keep him standing.

“It wasn’t me, I just improved it. You know me, not good for anything original,” Stark spoke like he was quoting. “Hydra boys were pretty disappointed when they found out they had the wrong Stark.” He tried to stand under his own power, shrugging off Bucky, but ended up falling into Steve. “This helped them decide to keep me around for a while. This, and the rocket boots.”

Steve grabbed him before he could slide back to the forest floor, sliding an arm around his waist and tossing Stark’s arm over his shoulder.

“Oh, you,” Stark said frowning up at Steve. “Guy from the base. Who the hell are you?”

“Captain America,” Steve replied automatically. He’d been introducing himself that way for months, and it was habit at this point. “Your father sent me.”

“And I’m the Easter Bunny,” Stark said and passed out.

“Well,” Bucky said in the suddenly loud silence. “Guess the gang’s all here.”

“Let’s head back,” Steve nodded, and hefted Stark bridal style figuring it would cause the least amount of damage. “This man needs a medic.”

“You have no idea,” Parker said under his breath as he followed Bucky and Steve out of the forest.

 


	6. Chapter 6

They met up with the rest of the escapees in the clearing a short hour later. Steve almost lost his head when he exited the forest and startled one of the ex-prisoners carrying a large Hydra weapon.

“Dum-Dum, put down that damn cannon!” Bucky barked coming alongside Steve in the clearing. “Isn’t that thing supposed to be on a tank?”

The mountain of a man shrugged and looked down at the massive gun. “Maybe. Aren’t you supposed to be dead, Sarge?” The man pushed back his bowler hat and grinned large behind his massive mustache. “Glad to see you’re not.”

“I’m kind of glad myself,” Bucky grinned, nudged Steve with an elbow, looking up at him to share the joke. “Steve here got me out.”

The man let the butt of the gun slam into the ground and leaned against it. “Right, “Captain America,” glad to see you made it out too.” He squinted at the shape in his arms. “Is that-?”

“Is that Stark?” A tall black man pushed out from the crowd. “I thought he was dead!”

“Came close enough,” Bucky nodded. He reached behind Steve and collared Parker, drawing him forward. “Lookie who else we found.”

“Parker!” ”Kid!” A dozen other nicknames were shouted out. Parker gave an abashed grin, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I thought you were a goner when we saw the place blow,” Dum-Dum slung the cannon over his shoulder and reached out for Parker drawing him into a headlock and rubbing his knuckles through his hair. “Don’t scare me like that.” Parker weakly tried to fight the giant of a man off.

“Hey,” Steve protested, shifting Stark in his arms, laying the man’s head up higher on his shoulder, so he could reach out a bit with a hand. “Be careful! He’s injured.”

Dum-Dum held Parker out at arms length, “He is?” He looked Peter over, even going so far as to lift the boy’s arm to look at the tatters of his uniform’s left side. “Where?”

“It’s just bruises,” Parker pushed himself out of Dum-Dum’s grip. “I’m fine, Captain,” he said to Steve, “honest.”

Steve frowned, he could have sworn the boy had cuts and rough abrasions all down the left side of him. Now he just looked bruised and dirty.

“Stark’s not,” the black man, said pressing forward. He shouted over his shoulder, “We need a medic over here!”

“You can put him down now, Chief,” a scruffy Asian man said in a thick Jersey accent. “We ain’t got a proper medic, but these guys are pretty good.” He jerked his head an another soldier came forward, quickly spreading a blanket across the ground.

A couple of the prisoners had rushed over with make-shift medical kits. The escapees had done a good job of stripping the factory as they went. There were several vehicles, tanks with soldiers peering out of the top and trucks full of weapons and wounded.

Steve reluctantly put Stark down on the blanket and let the other men fuss with him. “Situation?”

There are hundreds of soldiers of various ranks and armies but it quickly became clear who was in charge. From the US Army, there was the mustachioed giant, the ridiculously named Dum-Dum Dugan, the scruffy Asian, Jim Morita. Gabe Johnson, the black man, ended up speaking for both the US soldiers and the French translating for Jacques Dernier, a balding little Frenchman. The Brits were represented by one Montgomery Falsworth, who managed to look bored and amused at the whole situation.

They all stared at Steve after reporting the status of their men, their confiscated equipment and vehicles. Steve glanced at Bucky, waiting for him to step forward as usual and lead the way.

Bucky’s gaze bounced back at Steve before surveying the ground ahead of them and the waiting men. “So what’s the plan, Captain?” he looked up at Steve.

 _Oh, right,_ a faint voice said in the back of his mind. He was the ranking officer. It was his job to get the men home safe.

  
“Fuckers, get offa me,” Stark slurred from his blanket, “Don’t touch, you bastards.”

“Corporal, we have to see,” one of the men said. “At least let us clean it-“

“That’s sophisticated equipment there, you can’t just get it wet-” Stark complained, batting at their hands. “And who the fu-“

“It’s the rest of the prisoners,” Parker said kneeling next to him. “Let him help, sir.”

Stark grabbed at Parker’s arm. “Don’t let them touch it, or take it out. It’ll kill me, kill them. S’dangerous-” He fought to sit up, and fresh blood bloomed on his bandages and on the cuts and scrapes on his body.

“They won’t,” Steve said quickly sitting on his other side and pressing him back with a heavy hand on his mostly uninjured right shoulder. Steve stared firmly at the soldiers waiting to help and then down at Stark. “They’re just going to change the bandages, and clean up some of the scrapes you gave yourself, and check you over for anything broken or infected. _That’s all._ “

“Yessir,” One of the soldiers nodded, “I really don’t want to touch…whatever that is.”

“Okay,” Stark said, but still kept a suspicious hand over the glowing blue in his chest. “Good.”

“Parker’s going to stay and make sure,” Steve nodded to the boy.

“Okay,” Stark said again, and let his hand drop away. “Fine. Yeah.” His eyes were fluttering closed.

Steve stood and let the men get to work. “We’ve got to get back to base quickly before we lose anyone else.” He really didn’t want to have to explain to Howard how he’d rescued his boy just to let him die in the woods.

“Get worst of the injured in the convoy trucks. I want a tank to the front and one to the rear. Dugan,” Steve pointed at the large man. “Assign a point team, we’re behind enemy lines, and I want to avoid the fight as much as possible.” He turned to Johnson and his French friend. “We need to try to establish communications, see if you can get any of the Hydra equipment working, I want you two on that.” They nodded and turned to issue orders to some of the others.

“I’m familiar with this landscape,” Falsworth nodded, “If I can get a map, I think I can plan out a route for us.”

“Get him a map,” Steve said to Morita, “And get as many of the men armed as possible. Any that aren’t I want marching in the inside formation, set up a schedule to rotate.”

“On it,” Morita nodded and ran off, Falsworth lagging behind.

“Anybody got food?” Bucky yelled across the clearing, not waiting for an order. “We’re going to need supplies: water, food, medicine, firewood. Let’s tally up what we got and go from there.” He slapped Steve on the shoulder. “Still picking fights bigger than you are, huh?” He looked Steve up and down. “How’s that working for you?”

“Okay so far,” Steve grinned at Bucky.

“Just don’t get any bigger yourself,” Bucky said. “I don’t want to see the fight we get in next.”

“I’ll try,” Steve shrugged. “No promises.”


End file.
